8 Mandatory Motion Graphic Distribution Tactics

Motion graphics are amazing. Sure, they aren’t time travel or teleportation, but tech doesn’t always have to be a sliding scale, okay?

Actually, taken a step farther, “video” is pretty much a secret password for grabbing a person’s attention. By now, you could even make the argument that group-watching YouTube videos has far-surpassed baseball as this country’s national pastime. Personally, I wouldn’t make that argument, but that’s mostly because nobody ever serves me nachos whenever they want to show me a trailer, music video, or poorly recorded live performance of their cousin’s band.

Motion graphics (as opposed to simply videos) add a design factor, making them more easily varied and transforming them into welcomed additions to any social feed. At their core, motion graphics are just animated videos, and what person who’s come of age in the last 50 years doesn’t have a soft spot for animation?

Simply put, people enjoy videos. That’s all there is to it. That simplistic basis is what makes them an incredibly effective content marketing tool. Getting down to brass tax (which is something I think people still say), 71% of marketers claim their video content’s conversion performance is better than their other types of marketing.

That’s why you need more videos. And that’s why you need people to actually see those videos. Now, the first part is a matter of your own in-house or outsourced resources, but the second part is a bit trickier. But no worries, because as always, we’ve got you covered. Check out these tips to get your content in motion.

1. Consider your target audience.

Unlike static pieces, where content and design elements can (sometimes) change without too much extra time in edits, video is a whole other ball game, one that’s more complex. If video production is like cricket, static production is baseball (last mention of the sport, I swear). A lot of planning needs to go into video brainstorming, scripting, designing, editing, and post-production…ing.

Deciding who’s supposed to see and be impacted by this visual piece of content should be one of the first things you discuss. It’s also the first step of any move in the PR game, as you want to create a motion graphic that you’re sure is just what your target audience wants. It’s all about relevant content (and the Benjamins, but that comes later, if you do a good job in the first place).

2. Have a solid landing page.

At this point in our species’ evolution, the phrase “attention span” is a generous term. It should really be “attention snap,” given how quickly we’ve trained ourselves to bounce from one piece of content to the next. We, as the Internet populace, want to know if a piece of content is going to be worth our time, and online users more or less see time’s value in a similar fashion to the way dogs “age.” Each minute feels like 7, which can make a bad or boring video seem like an eternity.

To grab your audience’s elusive attention, give them some (enticing, keyword-driven) context by providing a short intro paragraph (2–3 sentences should suffice) to explain what the video is about and what it offers the potential viewer. And make damn sure your publishing platform (i.e., your blog) has social sharing buttons, or it’s like setting up your video in a cave with no exit.

3. Go static, if necessary.

A picture is worth a thousand words. In advertising, that value’s probably measured in clicks and likely varies according to platform, paid support, yada yada yada. Use noteworthy or compelling high-res screenshots from the motion graphic to post on publication sites or your social channels where playing videos within the post may not be an option. If you can, utilize those teaser images to link back to the full motion graphic. Naturally, choose the prettiest or most eye-catching scene. (But I’m sure you already knew that. It’s Content Marketing 101 at best and common sense at worst.) Would caps help drive home the point? Alright. PEOPLE GENERALLY ENJOY THINGS THAT LOOK NICE, SO SHOW THEM PRETTY STUFF.

4. Utilize previews.

There are instances when, although video is totally allowed, the full version just doesn’t fit. If that’s the case, showcase shorter clips. This will go a long way on social media channels such as Instagram and Twitter, where full viewing capabilities might not be possible. Trust me: People will dynamite their nervous systems to see anything in their Instagram feed that isn’t a car selfie or vacation photo. Give it to them. They will love it. Really, anything to not see another friend happily drunk on vacation without them.

5. Use more than one video site.

Share the motion graphic on multiple video hosting sites (i.e., YouTube, Vimeo, etc.) to be able to leverage multiple channels for video sharing. But don’t only consider third-party hosting. Most marketers have learned that it makes the most sense to throw more than one party for their videos by hosting them at several different spots.

14% – Own website

23% – External sites (YouTube, Vimeo)

63% – Combination

Get into it. Put that motion graphic on your site, on YouTube, on Vimeo, on all the computers at the local Apple store, on the laptop while the college kid at the coffee shop is out taking a call, on the TV when your bae comes over to Netflix and chill—the list could really go on forever. Just safely assume not everyone has the same go-to source for their video viewing pleasure.

6. Take advantage of Facebook.

Facebook users watch 4 billion streams a day. To say the social network’s hand in online video has increased is to sell it short. Like, way short. In early 2014, only roughly a quarter of all videos uploaded to Facebook were done so directly, with others coming from third-party video sites such as YouTube. Now, 70% of Facebook’s videos are uploaded right to the network. That’s not an increase; it’s an explosion.

Using Facebook’s video hosting abilities to share your motion graphic makes it easily playable in people’s feeds. But there’s another huge feature to this move: built-in analytics. Sure, maybe you never thought you’d be this excited about that phrase; but I know you, and these days you are jacked about built-in analytics.

7. Leverage your owned channels.

You have channels, so why not use them? Hey, you should seriously use those owned channels, like now. You have so many owned channels, from internal company feeds to brand-publishing platforms. I mean, social media alone is, like, 4 different channels—at least the main, most popular ones. Video is even proven to pump up the power of your emails, as they increase open rates by 19% and reduce unsubscribes by 26%. Bottom line: Get your moving goods out there, everywhere.

8. Ramp up your motion graphic game.

MAKE. MORE. VIDEOS. It will give you more pieces of visual content to promote in a world that’s indefinitely leaning more toward videos. Marketing pundits love to pretend like they’re taking a stand against a popularly held belief that any and every online [fill in the blank] is just a brief trend. But trust us when we use the cliche: “Video’s not going anywhere.” Well, it is going somewhere; it’s going up. Experts say that video is taking up a majority of consumer Internet traffic and projected to keep going.

57% – 2015

69% – 2017

79% – 2018

So, put your time, money, and energy into strong outreach for your video content. It’s what the people want. As wise people once said: Video’s not going anywhere.

(See? See how hack of a sign-off that is?!)

Here’s the summary you really need: Make more videos for the right audience. Make sure you have a killer publishing platform. And post everywhere you can. That’s really what it all comes down to.